Emile andreoli



(No Model.)

B. ANDREOLI. APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING OZONE.

No. 577,636. Patented Feb.23, 1897.

INVENTOR WITNESSES:

TTORN EY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EMILE ANDREOL I, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING OZONE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 577,636, dated February 23, 1897.

Application filed August 12, 1896. Serial No. 602,491. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EMILE ANDREOLI, a citizen of France, residing at 147 Cold Harbour Lane, London, in the county of Surrey, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for the Production of Ozone, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for the commercial production of ozone, the primary object being to provide an apparatus in which the electrifying-surface is comparatively large and in the operation of which the rise in temperature usually accompanying the production of the electric effluvia will be slow and the maximum of which will never be high.

A further object is to producean apparatus capable of being operated successfully for long continuous periods of time.

Some of these objects are attained by a construction which provides that the contact of the air or of oxygen or other gas to be ozonized with the glow of the silent discharge at' the electrodes shall be brief.

According to my invention the apparatus comprehends two sets of electrodes arranged alternately with each other in a series with a space between each pair for the passage of air to be ozonized and a dielectric interposed between each pair, whereby a double glow is obtained between them.

The main feature of my invention is the construction of the electrodes themselves,

which are in the form of a box and through,

which water or other cooling medium is circulated while the apparatus is in action.

Other features of the invention relate to the specific construction of the apparatus, which will be fully described hereinafter.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section of the apparatus, showing the electrode in end elevation, the pipes for maintaining circulation of cooling material being omitted. Fig. 2 is a perspecti ve view of the electrodes, showing their relative positions in the apparatus and their connection with the pipes controlling the circulation of the cooling agent. Fig. 3 is an end elevation in detail of one of the electrodes,

the end wall being partially broken away to show the liquid inside. I

A is a box or casing having a cover. a, provided' with windows a, through which the .internal action may be observed, and a flaring or conical bottom a into 'the apex of which the inlet-pipe b is fitted. Above the flaring bottom is placed a false bottom 0, having a series of horizontal slits 0' formed therein. Between each of these slits and resting upon the false bottom is an elongated metallic box cl. Seven of theseboxes are shown, but any other number, preferably an odd number, may

be used. Between each two boxes and directly over the center of each slit is'a sheet of dielectric material at. These are held equidistant from each box by blocks of glass or other insulators 01 The boxes are electrically connected in two sets, those of one set being positive and alternating with those of the other set, which are negative. The positive boxes are all connected to the side of a circuit, (indicated by the plus and minus signs,) while the negative boxes are connected with the side of the said circuit. This circuit is in the secondary of a transformer T or other source of alternating currents of high tension and frequency. Above the series of boxes is a chamber e for the collection of ozonized gas, and from this chamber a conduit 6 leads, which is of greater capacity than the inlet 0.

In Fig. 2 I have shown an arrangement for circulating water or other cooling agent separately to the two sets of boxes or electrodes.

A reservoir or other source R connects by a pipe 7' and branches '2" with the lower part of eachof the negative electrodes. Another pipe r and its branches r connects with the upper part of the same set of electrodes or boxes. A separate reservoir S connects by pipe 3 and branches s with the lower part of.

each of the positive boxes or electrodes and another pipe 3 with its branches 3 leads from the upper part of said boxes. The liquid from the source R leads through pipes r and r, rises in the negative box, and passes out through the pipes r and W. The liquid from the source S flows through pipes s and s, rises in the positive boxes, and flows out,

ICO

through the pipes s and 3*, care being taken to keep the exit liquids separated to prevent short circuits between the boxes.

. I preferably provide the opposing faces of the boxes with a larger number of metallic points in order to facilitate the electric discharge. The method shown in the drawings for accomplishing this is a series of metallic strips g, having one edge serrated like sawteeth and placed with their backs against the surface of the box in parallel lines close together, as shown in Fig. 4, but it will be understood that any other arrangement of the points may serve as well, and that the points maybe omitted altogether, if desired, or that the points may be placed on one side while omitted from the other. The spaces between the boxes will ordinarily be about eight milli meters, four millimetegs each side of the sheet ofdielectric material, but this space, of course, will vary in accordance with the tension of the current used. At the point where air or gas from the inlet-pipe b enters the flaring bottom of the ozonizer I place any kind of distributing device, such as a battleplate h or fan, for the ,purpose of evenly distributing the 'air to the slits c.

In the operation of this apparatus, the current of electricity being allowed to flow and the cooling agent being in circulation, atmospheric air, oxygen, or other suitable gas is admitted under any desired pressure through the pipe I). It passes upward through the slit 0 and through the spaces on both sides of the dielectric d in contact with the electric efiluvia or glow there present, then to the collecting-chamber 6 above, and finally out,

as ozone, through the exit i.

A characteristic and advantageous feature of this ozonizer is the fact that there are two flows of silent discharge between each two electrodes, one on each side of the dielectric.

Thus with seven electrodes, as shown, (assuming that the two end surfaces of the first and last boxes are not in operation,) there are six dielectric separators and on each side of these I have the eflluvia, making twelve areas of electrifying glow.

In a one-horse-power apparatus arranged according to my invention and consisting of twelve metal boxes or electrodes, one square foot each, I obtain twenty-two square feet of ozonizing-surface. This electric action between every two active surfaces of the electrodes would cause a great development of heat in the very small space which separates them, but for the circulation of the cooling agent. The circulation of this cooling agent need not be continuous. It maybe intermittent, and under certain conditions it need not be used at all. The longer the air is in contact with the electrifying-surface and the dielectric the warmer it becomes and the smaller the quantity of ozone formed. To obviate this rise of temperature, which up to the pres .from between the electrodes,

ent time has been the unavoidable drawback in the commercial production of ozone, I rapidly draw ofl? the ozonized gas from contact It is in this connection with the electrodes. that the chamber e becomes useful,- as it affords a comparatively free vent for the gas and it being drawn off through the pipe 6 in greater Volume than it enters through the pipe b any necessary velocity of movement may be obtained.

When the ozonizer' has to work continuously during long periods, I prefer to make the box-electrodes long and narrow, so that instead, for instance, of electrodes one foot square, I may have them two feet long and only six inches wide. The total surface is the same, but the gas forced through has to traverse a much shorter distance, and therefore is not so hot as it would be if it had to pass through a space of twelve inches.

It will be observed that the electrodes are situated so that no space is left on their ozonizing-surfaces which is not in contact with the air or other gas forced into the apparatus. The sets of electrodes are mechanically independent of each other and can be readily withdrawn from the receptacle when necessary. When the circulating-pipes s and r are used, they may pass through suitable openings in the walls of the casing, and when the boxes are to be removed the pipe-couplings are easily separated. It'is evident that the electrodes, with the circulating cooling agent and the dielectric sheets arranged in the manner described, may be used in an ordinary rectangular box without the flaring bottom and without the space for ozone abovethat is to say, theair may enter one side of such box and pass laterally between the electrodes and out through a proper exit-pipe at the opposite side of the box, but the preferred construction is the one hereinbefore described in detail.

Having thus claim I Q 1. In an apparatus for the commercial production of ozone, a box containing a series of positive and negative electrodes arranged alternately with respect to each other, in combination with sheets of dielectric material placed equidistant between each pair of electrodes, a space being left between the sheet of dielectric and the electrodes, and means for directing a draft of air or other gas to be ozonized, between the several pairs of electrodes, and upon each side of the sheets of dielectric material,substantially as described.

2. In an apparatus for the commercial production of ozone, the combination of a box providedwith a false bottom having a plurality of slits therein, a series of electrodes resting upon the said bottom with spaces between them directly over said slits, respectively, a sheet of-dielectric material between described my invention, I

each pair of electrodes and arranged over the middle of each slit, a conical chamber below the false bottom, an inlet-passage for air or gas fitted to the apex of said chamber and an exit for air or gas from the box located at a point above the electrodes, substantially as described.

EMILE ANDREOLI.

WVitnesses ALFRED NUTTING, FERDINAND J. HOLE. 

